Megalodons: Could They Still Be Lurking In Our Oceans Today?

As you might know if you read my other thread on a similar topic, I'm a fan of large, presumably extinct sea monsters.
The Megalodon has been a favorite of mine since I was almost 8 years old. It's what got me into science and cryptozoology. I discovered it in a
youtube video set to the tune of Kanye West's "Stronger", which I would like to add is, in my opinion an example of Kanye West in his prime years.
The mystery behind the Megalodon is that people claim that we have only explored a small percent of the ocean, and therefore cannot rule out that the
Megalodon is not still living deep deep in the oceans. This is my favorite topic ever. Please discuss!

originally posted by: TheBlueShiroux
As you might know if you read my other thread on a similar topic, I'm a fan of large, presumably extinct sea monsters.
The Megalodon has been a favorite of mine since I was almost 8 years old. It's what got me into science and cryptozoology. I discovered it in a
youtube video set to the tune of Kanye West's "Stronger", which I would like to add is, in my opinion an example of Kanye West in his prime years.
The mystery behind the Megalodon is that people claim that we have only explored a small percent of the ocean, and therefore cannot rule out that the
Megalodon is not still living deep deep in the oceans. This is my favorite topic ever. Please discuss!

Could be the reason behind all of these unexplained disappearances of small fishing boats.

There's not much in the way of recent sightings to bolster the idea of a possibly 60 ft shark roaming the oceans. Plenty of megalodon teeth have been
discovered but I've not heard of one that wasn't dated to less than a million years ago. They also don't appear in the fossil record past the
Calabrian from what I've read.

However, lets not forget that the megamouth shark wasn't discovered until 1976 and the largest one seen was about 20 ft long.

originally posted by: UNIT76
recently there's been some excitement in the scene
a tagged great white shark dove to a depth but the bodyheat then spiked upwards rapidly
they think it was DEVOURED by something

As mentioned, megalodons went extinct an estimated 1.6 million years ago. But some people are not satisfied with this and are convinced that they
might still exist. Unfortunately, some documentaries (that used fake footage) have many people completely convinced that they're still hiding in the
ocean. So let’s go through the common arguments and hopefully we can reach a sensible conclusion.

First off, nobody has direct evidence to suggest that they do still exist. No, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence- we know this. It’s
very difficult to prove something doesn’t exist, but equally that doesn’t mean that megalodons are still lurking around somewhere.

There have been numerous eyewitness accounts of huge sharks throughout history and also various illustrations of gigantic washed up sharks, even some
photographs. One photograph in particular which stirred up a lot of controversy was an image that was presented in a Discovery Channel documentary
(which was fictional) showing the dorsal and caudal (tail) fins of a shark next to a submarine, spanning a whopping 64 foot. The image was fabricated.
The documentary was in fact a "mockumentary", which was stated in a very small disclaimer at the end. Plus, 64 foot (almost 20 meters) is larger
than the estimates of the entire body size of megalodons! This was only dorsal fin to tail! The “scientists” that appeared in this documentary,
entitled “Megalodon- The Monster Shark Lives,” were also actors. Sorry.

Sketches of huge sharks that washed up on beaches many years ago were also most likely either exaggerated great whites or basking sharks. Who knows
for sure, but you can’t rely on a drawing as evidence, that’s not how science works. Eyewitness accounts are also extremely unreliable,
particularly when dealing with rotting or decomposing animals. To the untrained eye, a whale shark or a basking shark could look like some kind of
giant great white. It’s an easy mistake to make.

A couple of unexpected discoveries have also fuelled belief that megalodons still exist; coelacanths and the megamouth shark. Coelacanths are an
extremely old species of fish that were thought to have been extinct since the end of the cretaceous period, around 65 million years ago. However,
much to the excitement of the scientific community, one was caught in 1938 and another in 1952. Since then many have been spotted throughout the
world. The coelocanth is a fairly easy species to miss - they typically live at great depths, and spend much of their time in caves. Just because we
were wrong about coelacanths, it doesn’t mean that megalodons exist.

The megamouth shark was discovered only in 1976. This shark is a plankton feeder that can reach up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) in length, so it’s pretty
big. Yes, this does highlight the fact that even relatively big shark species can escape our radar and spend years lurking in the oceans unnoticed,
but once again that doesn’t prove that megalodons exist. The megamouth is a plankton feeder, and swims at great depths during the day, making its
detection difficult.

Sharks also regularly shed teeth, but we haven’t discovered any megalodon teeth that indicate they were recently lost.

Another idea that sometimes crops up - could megalodon be hiding in really deep oceans, escaping our detection? Probably not. Fossil evidence from
megalodons suggests that they preferred shallower, warmer waters and would have inhabited areas rife with large prey needed to sustain their
populations. They also used coastal areas as nursing grounds. Furthermore, it’s thought one of the factors that may have contributed to their
extinction was the migration of their prey to colder waters, restricting the prey available to them. They just were not adapted to life deep in the
oceans (we’re talking really deep here for something this ginormous to be able to escape detection).

So, we’ve only explored a tiny portion of our oceans. This is true. But the VAST majority of ocean life lives in the first few hundred meters, where
the sunlight can reach. Below that, life becomes highly specialized and large animals are rare. Megalodons were HUGE and would need a constant supply
of large animals to feed off. Maybe megalodons didn't go extinct but evolved into a smaller, specialized shark capable of living deep in the oceans?
Well then that wouldn't be a megalodon anymore.

Even if they were, somehow, hiding in deep oceans like the giant squid - we still have documented evidence of the giant squid! Tentacles and bodies
have been washing up for years, and footage of live animals has been shot over the last couple of years. I reiterate- megalodons were HUGE! If they
still existed, we would know about it. They would be chowing down on massive sharks and whales all over the world. We would see bite marks on whales,
scars from old attacks too large to be from any known shark. It would be a spectacular sight, but unfortunately not one that we are going to see.

Was the picture posted below proved to be fake or not? I know it came from that Discovery Channel Megalodon show from Shark Week last year, but I
didn't know if ALL aspects of the video were faked or not.

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